Johnnie St. Vrain: Americans not giving an inch on Celsius

Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
12/09/2013 12:35:39 AM MST

Updated:
12/09/2013 12:38:00 AM MST

Kate Schranz clears the sidewalk near her home Wednesday, when the high temperature reached 14 degrees Farenheit or -10 Celsuis. If the United States used the Celsius thermometer, Thursday morning's low of 12 below zero would have been -24.
(Matthew Jonas)

Dear Johnnie: I wonder if you could influence the Longmont Times-Call to let us know what the temperature is in Celsius as well as Fahrenheit. The Celsius measuring system is part of the metric system and is much more logical than the Fahrenheit system.

The USA is part of our global community, and it is time for American citizens to join the rest of the world. Even Germany, where the German physicist Fahrenheit developed the Fahrenheit temperature scale, is using the Celsius temperature scale. That system was developed in 1742 by the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius, and it is a much better system with freezing point at 0 degrees and boiling point at 100 degrees.

I was born in Sweden and have been in touch with my family every day by e-mail reporting about our Siberian plunge these last days, and it is so annoying to have to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius to make my family understand how cold it is here. When is the USA going to join the rest of the world in using a more logical system? I think it would be good for school children to see both the Fahrenheit temperature and the Celsius temperature, so they can learn and catch up with the rest of the world.

I think there was a space accident some years ago that was due to the calculations of Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, if I remember right. Scientists use the Celsius system, I have been told, but that time something went terribly wrong, because of the different temperature scales. -- Swedish by Birth and Educated in Sweden

Dear Swedish by Birth: I'll start with the space accident and work my way backwards through your questions.

The Mars Climate Orbiter was lost in 1999, and it wasn't a result of confusion between Fahrenheit and Celsius. The problem was pounds vs. Newtons. This difference in measuring the force of the orbiter's maneuvering systems meant that the orbiter was as much as 100 kilometers (62 miles) off course when it reached Mars. That would mean the difference between achieving orbit and burning up in the atmosphere. (Apologies to you experts out there who could explain this better than me, but I need to keep this brief.)

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Johnnie St. Vrain

As to the U.S. joining the rest of the world and moving to the metric system, that has happened in many areas of life here, specifically medical and scientific, the orbiter incident excepted. Americans are accustomed to measuring medications in milligrams, and students learn metric measurements in science courses. Even my teachers taught the metric system in my physics and chemistry classes in high school -- and that was during the last century.

I would say that the most well known use of a metric measurement in the U.S. is the 2-liter drink. No one wants to say they bought a half-gallon of soda pop. Likewise, we want to brag about running a 10K.

And that brings us to the weather.

I believe that the reluctance in the U.S. to move to Celsius has to do with how Americans consider the weather, especially when it comes to hot or cold weather. Americans don't think of heat logically, such as its effect on water. They think of it in terms of how it makes them feel. Like Mr. Fahrenheit, Americans accept that 100 is very hot and 0 is very cold. And when you reach or exceed those extremes, that gives them plenty to talk about.

I think that for that reason, the weather reports you see in the States -- on television, on the radio, in the newspaper -- remain in Fahrenheit. Your Celsius suggestion for the paper is noted, but I can't promise any changes in the near term.

Yes, that change might come eventually, but Americans hold tightly to those things that are uniquely American. When it comes to Celsius supporters, Americans might fear that if you give 'em an inch, they'll take a kilometer.

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